randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

I just don’t get a lot of time online these days.  Between work and Gage, there’s not much time or energy, you know?  Gage has made so much progress… so many words.  He asks for his basic needs now, food (everything that he regularly eats, by name), drinks, the bathroom if we’re out.  He also asks for things like going outside, getting in the car to go for a ride, he asks for his socks and shoes and if he wants to put on different clothes he asks for what articles of clothing he wants changed.  He’s writing and reading a few words as part of the program he was in during the school year.

Medication has been recommended.  A couple of different options.  I just found out that one of them is available as a patch, so I’m getting more information on that.  Since Gage won’t take medicine the normal way, a patch or an injection would be the only way to make sure he took a specific dose at a specific time.  I’m not interested in trying to give Gage a daily shot — it takes at least 3 people to hold him for his regular vaccinations.

So, I work at a grocery store.  Which I love, but it doesn’t pay much.  I’m going to apply at another store this week, it’s $3 more an hour plus benefits — I can handle that for now.  Union is nice, but I think I’d rather have benefits.

In health news, I was recently told that my cholesterol panel is that of a teenage athlete.  I guess that’s a good thing.  I guess my diet has been doing something right in my body, even if I’m not really losing any weight lately (not gaining any either, so it’s not entirely bad).  I’m thinking of taking up bike riding.  To make it extra effective, I want to get one of those bicycle trailers that you can put children into and take Gage for a ride with me.  I think he’d enjoy that.

Couple of weeks ago, I went canoeing for the first time.  It was a BLAST.  I loved the experience.  We were the first people on the creek, so we got to see some wildlife.  Deer, a snake, some hawks, frogs, turtles, all kinds of birds.  And more kinds of dragonflies than I ever knew existed.  There was even a variety that had black wings like butterfly wings and teal bodies.  They were so pretty.  I took Rob for his birthday, since he mentioned it a few times and said that he really enjoyed canoeing.

So, my digital camera wasn’t working.  Something was wrong with it and I was searching ebay for a replacement.  Placed a few bids, lost a few auctions.  Mom picked up my camera yesterday, to see if she could do anything with it.  Afterall, what would it hurt?  It was broken anyway…

she fixed it.  Of course, she fixed it about 30 seconds after I bid on a replacement, LOL.  I lost the auction, so that’s good.  And the even better news is that the camera that I love is in good working order again.  Apparently, the lense (which shifts out when it’s on) was jammed.  Mom gave it a nudge and jiggle and poof.  Fixed.  I tried exactly what she did, but I guess I wasn’t doing it hard enough, what can I say… I didn’t want to break it.  I’m very glad the camera is fixed, I’d like to get some good pictures of Gage at the birthday party this weekend.  It’ll be his first real birthday party since his first birthday.  It’s a dual affair, Gage and Kalina.  Their birthdays are only 3 days apart, so it didn’t make much sense to have 2 birthday parties (2 weekends in a row, no doubt).

Haven’t posted much of late, my apologies to anyone who actually attempts to read this regularly.  I don’t spend much time online of late, mostly too tired to do much online lately. 

Gage is doing really good, so many words.  He asks for things he wants now.  He asks for different foods, drinks, activities, etc.  He writes words on the magnadoodle all the time.  I’ve written new words out for him and he sounded them out.  It’s incredibly encouraging, even if he needed a little help putting all the sounds together.  He hasn’t had any meltdowns or serious tantrums lately, and he’s gotten so much more affectionate.

Work continues… it’s good, though I like the stuff I do besides cashiering better, I must admit. 

The digital camera is dead.  I don’t know what happened, but it won’t turn on or close up.  I’m working on getting a refurbished one of the same variety.  I like that camera.  I’ll “upgrade” when I can afford the most recent model with all the groovy features I want.  For now I’ll just see about getting something that I’m good and familiar with that I know is really good for my needs.

so I had my first bad customer at work yesterday.  I’d definitely classify this person as a bitch.  Seriously.  She was going on and on (to other customers) about me being slow, and bringing up people who were originally behind her in line being done already — the people she was referring to had just a few items and were redirected to the express lane.  Not that I could say that, of course.  It also didn’t help the speed of the line that she happened to get behind customers who were doing multiple transactions and/or had special bagging needs.  The person directly in front of her requested that things be packed lightly and that they be in paper bags inside of plastic bags.  It’s a common request, particularly from elderly customers or people who want their bags packed as full as humanly possible.  This woman bitched loudly about the way I was bagging the person in front of her’s stuff.  Bear in mind that the person I was taking care of was using one of the little mobile carts and had an oxygen tank with her.  There was a “what is this girls problem?” when I had to write a price on a coupon — sorry honey, that’s standard operating proceedure, and any other cashier would have done the same damned thing.  The customer in the mobile cart is a regular, she goes to my line because I take the time to pack things well, but lightly for her.  I have many customers who seek me out, for just that reason.  What can I say, I’m good at my job.  The customer heard what the other woman was saying, and when I went to go around and put her bags in the basket on her cart she shook her head and told me she had it.

When the customer from hell was up she had nothin but attitude.  She gave me a 12-pack of soda and said “I have 3 of these.”  I asked if they were all the same variety, because we have to ring up each variety… it’s a matter of inventory.  She said no, and I told her I needed one of each variety and I needed to know how many of each she had.  I scanned the one she gave me, she gave me the second and I scanned that.  Then I asked what the 3rd one was, and she said “It’s the same as the first,” then got pissed because I said I needed it, because she didn’t tell me she had 2 of that one.  So she threw it up on the counter and I’ll be honest, a little part of me was hoping that the seal on a couple of those cans cracked a little and that it leaked all over her car.

Then she starts on about “how long have you worked here?” and “I can’t believe you still have a job.” and my personal favorite “You are the worst, slowest cashier I’ve ever seen.”  Meanwhile, she’s throwing stuff into a bag almost as fast as I scan it.  The first thing she put into the bag was a carton of eggs, among things she slammed into the bag on top of those were canned goods.  Again, I was hoping in the back of my mind that she was in the process of breaking all of her eggs.

When she left, I was sure to give her a “thank you, have a nice day” with a nice cheery smile.  And on her way out, I’m sure she heard the elderly man I rang up next, who said nice and loud “What the fuck was her problem?”

So, Autumn got a bear and a karate outfit from my NAAW site for Easter and she loves it.  I still have a bunch of discount codes for $5 off for anyone who’s interested.  The bear is really cute (he’s a panda) and the karate outfit is really nice.  Having not seen those two specific items in person before, I was pleased to have the chance.  They’re as nice and well-made as the ones that I’d already seen.

I got mystery shopped at work last week, got 100% which means I’m getting some free movie tickets from the store.  That’ll be nice, I haven’t been to a movie since X3 (in June of 2006).  Needless to say, I’m very excited.  Maybe I can catch a movie next week or something.  That’d be good.  Just gotta figure out what’s playing that I’m interested in seeing.  Maybe something scary.  That’d be good.

I’m currently saving money for a car.  Once car is attained, I can work on more NAAW stuff and check on a few other job options.  As much as I love my job, I’m thinking of applying for a position shopping for home delivery and pick up orders.  Why not?  I love grocery shopping (I’m bizarre, I know).  Um… I think that’s about it.

Gage has been creative lately.  We got some wooden cut outs from Rob’s mom and I got him some water colors.  He’s painted some truly BEAUTIFUL patterns on the shapes.  Mostly fish, what can I say… he loves fish.  There have been a few other animals.  Birds, bears, a birdhouse, etc.  I wanna get him a little wooden birdhouse (the 3-d kind, rather than a flat piece of wood) and see what he does with it.  When it gets a little warmer I’m going to get some canvas and some paints and let him paint outside.  He does some really creative stuff.

I’ve had some creative bursts myself lately.  As a matter of fact, I had a very interesting idea for a new board game, which I’m going to work on with Rob.  I’m not telling anyone anything about it though, because I think it’s a winner… and I’d rather no one steal our idea.  Right now we’re in the figuring out pieces and game play phase.  ‘Twill be quite interesting to see how that goes.  I’m getting a big more creative again on the cooking front, too.  There’re a couple of recipe ideas I had that I’d really like to work on and submit to a few contests that I read about.  There’s still a little time for that yet, though.

My back is killing me.  One draw back of working at the grocery store, I guess.  I’ll just have to get plenty of those back patches.  Good thing I get a discount, lol. 

Gage has gotten really REALLY good on the computer.  Not only is he good at navigating the pages he loves (starfall.com and pogo.com).  He’s learned how to plug in the mini-mouse that mom lets him use when he uses my laptop, so he doesn’t have to use the touch pad.  I didn’t show him that, he just started doing it.  Next he’ll be adding extra memory to Grammy’s computer or something, lol.

There’s an artists with Autism auction at the end of the month, some of Gage’s artwork from school (along with his classmates) will be included.  I’m gonna try and go to that, see what all Gage did and maybe bid on something.  Gage also has a field trip next week.  Alas I have to work, but I’m gonna see if Grammy or aunt Mandy can sneak in and take some pictures of him, after clearing it with his teachers, of course.  It would probably be better for them to go than me, anyway.  If he saw me, he probably wouldn’t let me leave.

So, I haven’t been able to watch much Avalanche hockey… that sucks very much badly.  I’m very thankful that I can listen to them online though.  I at least have that.  Missed yesterday’s game cause I was working, but I can listen to tonights game and that will be good.  Can I say that I was SO disappointed that the Avs traded my favorite player?  So sad.  Special K (Karlis Skrastins) is a damn fine defenseman in my opinion.  Not that I have a problem with Ruslan Salei, as a matter of fact I’ve had him on my fantasy hockey team since the beginning.  I’m just a big fan of the at home defenseman, the guys who don’t really do a lot of scoring, but do a lot of shot blocking and hard working in their own end. 

And then there’s the return… oh, was that an interesting pair of acquisitions on the Avs’s part.  Foote and Forsberg coming home.  Who knew?  Oh, there were dreams, but who really thought it’d happen?  Let us hope that this means good things in the Avs future.  There are 2 regular season games that are supposed to be nationally televised left.  I intend to watch both of them.  Here’s hoping they spend a lot of time in the playoffs.

So Rob and I were talking about M*A*S*H while we were doing ceramics… I’m not sure how we got onto the subject, but I’m sure I’ve made no secret of the fact that it’s one of my all-time favorite shows.  I can watch the series over and over again, and not get tired of it.  Then we got onto talking about “what if they made a M*A*S*H version of Monopoly?”  There are lots of locations for properties…

The Swamp (that would HAVE to be boardwalk, I think), Margaret’s tent, Potter/Blake’s tent, Potter/Blake’s office, Radar/Clinger’s office, OR, post-op, the nurse’s tent, the nurse’s shower, the supply tent, the mess tent, the officer’s club, Rosie’s the motor pool the latrine… There’s also Seoul and Tokyo among other places frequently visited or referenced in the show (and/or movie, which I also love).  For the railroads, you could use different vehicles… chopper, ambulance, jeep, tank (hey, there were tanks in a few episodes).

The pieces could go two ways… they could be characters or things from around camp; a jeep or the signpost for example.

I amused myself thinking about what might go on a M*A*S*H Monopoly board.  I even got my mom thinking about it a little earlier today.

Gage was playing with a magnadoodle last night and started writing words.  I saw jet, met, pop, pig, fat, hat… it was AWESOME.  He draws faces in the letters, but it’s a start.  I’ve heard stories of Autistic children who’ve never communicated verbally or with sign or PECS starting to write or type messages to people.  Maybe writing will be Gage’s medium.  I can certainly live with that.  He HAS communicated verbally though, just not a whole lot.  Since he’s been in this school though, he’s done more repeating.  Not just a single word from a sentence, entire sentences.  I find it encouraging.  I’m thinking I might try taking Gage to Friendly’s this weekend, just the two of us.  I think it’d be cool, and I want to see how he does.  I can always get the food to go if it doesn’t go well.

I’m going to the Red Cross auto sales place tomorrow to look at cars.  Here’s hoping I’ll find something that I can afford that is in good enough condition.  My requirements are small.  It must run, have all of the necessary parts, seatbelts are required.  Heat is also required.  It also must be able to pass inspection.

the kids had McDonalds today, courtesy of Grammy.  It was really cool, especially since Gage took the McNuggets out of his box and ate all 4 of them before he touched his fries.  Usually he eats the fries and it takes some convincing to get him to eat more than a McNugget and a half.  Maybe I should invest in some chicken nuggets — he might actually eat them.  I might also attempt some fish nuggets, might get lucky or something.

Work was good today.  I had an amusing moment… one of the songs playing over the intercom was “Mr. Spaceman” by the Byrds.  I was dancing a bit and a customer commented that I couldn’t know the song… so I started to sing along.  She was surprised.  What can I say, I love all kinds of music, even if it’s from many years before I was born.  Just like the people who thought I was weird because I was singing along to Elvis.  Elvis is awesome… he’s the man… or was.  He still kicks serious ass, musically speaking.

Gage doesn’t have school tomorrow, so I’m home.  Maybe I’ll break out the ceramic eggs for painting.  He did some of the wooden shapes that Rob gave me, he LOVED it.  He painted them pretty cool, too.  A couple of stripey fish and some bunnies.  I need to pull out a bigger assortment for him next time.  Eggs should be interesting though, I got watercolors for them to be painted with, so they’ll probably turn out really pretty.

Is it weird that I really love working at the grocery store?  What can I say, I love the grocery store — always have.  I could wander a grocery store for hours and never get bored with it.  As a matter of fact, I HAVE done that.  Someone I used to hang out with and I would drive around late at night, and sometimes would go wander the 24 hour grocery stores for awhile.  It was fun.  If I could find a job that allowed me to do grocery shopping for other people, it would be the perfect job.  I know that it’s possible — stores that do home delivery or in store pick up have people who do the shopping for the orders.  My store doesn’t do that, once they start, I’ll have to ask about changing positions — it would just be too perfect, you know?

So, it’s Valentines Day.  Nothing special.  Did some ceramics and bought a few things at WalMart today.  Gave Gage a little  heart shaped box of chocolates, and since Michael and Madison are going to be here this weekend (along with Gage and Kalina), I got some ceramic eggs for the kids to paint.  Got water colors for them to paint with instead of regular acrylic paint — I figured it would be easier to clean up if it gets on the carpet.  It’ll also be nice and light and give a “dyed egg” look to the eggs.  They can keep their eggs or give them to Grammy to put into a basket for Easter decoration.

For Gage’s class, I got him some Pirates of the Caribbean valentines and special lolipops.  They’re Winnie the Pooh Saf-T-Pops, with letters and numbers on them.  I thought they’d be really cool for the class, especially since they’re made on dedicated equipment and so they’re not exposed to or made with peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs or wheat gluton.  Which basically means that they’re safe for any allergies in his class (there is a peanut allergy) and any special diets (dairy and/or gluton free). 

I’m working on putting together a small sensory kit for Gage.  Just so he can have some “sensory time” at home.  I’ve tried things like rolling him up in a blanket and stuff, he doesn’t seem to dig that.  I’d like to get him one of those body sox — I think he’d really enjoy it, but they run about $45.  Can’t afford that at the moment.  So I got him a special ball, a groan stick and a glitter wand to start.  I’m going to get some weighted stuffed animals and perhaps a small weighted blanket soon as well. 

Nothing else really going on for <3 day.  Although, mom did get me a little bear with a rose and some heart lolipops (she also got stuff for her grandkids), and one of my best friends got me a really cool omelet pan and spatula — the pan is square, so I can also do perfect eggs for fried egg sandwiches.  Color me bizarre, but I think that’s a really awesome gift.

Internet access is up and running again, woo hoo.  This is a good thing.

Work goes well.  What can I say, I enjoy the grocery store.  It’s cool to see all of the groovy things that people buy, and as weird as it may be, coupons make me happy.  Getting a discount is nice too.  Employees get a 5% discount.  It’s not much, but considering the really low markup on groceries, it’s damn generous of the company to offer it.  So it’s “only” $5 off of a $100 purchase, but it’s $5 in my pocket at the end of the day that wouldn’t have been in my pocket at the end of the day — at least that’s how I look at it.

Been getting some ceramic relaxation, too.  Now I understand why my mom has always been such a fan of painting ceramics.  It’s so relaxing to just sit and paint… to contemplate the color combinations, to mix unique colors for certain projects — just gotta remember to write down what you’re using for a particular piece, especially if it’s a custom mix.  You never know if you mixed enough of a particular color.  So far I’ve finished a turtle, a lighthouse and a fish.  I’m working on a faerie sitting on the moon (almost done).  I’m doing her in a mix of blues and purples, with lots of irridescent and metallics.  I’ve also got a really cute treehouse I’m working on and a shark in the wings.  When they’re done, I’m doing a goblet with a dragon on the stem.  The goblet I’m going to do with glaze, so it can be fired and, if I choose, drank from.  That one I probably won’t, because of the way it was poured.  But I might get one later from greenware and ask them to pour it differently.

I think when I’m done with what I’ve already got on my itinerary, I’m going to start doing some seasonal stuff.  The shop I go to has seasonal items (for all seasons) on display all year round.  So I could do some Halloween and Christmas stuff if I want, or I could do some stuff for upcoming holidays.  There’s a huge selection of really cool pieces for all the various holidays.  I can also get some ceramics that I’ve had in need of firing for several years fired soon.  That’ll be nice.  I can finally get them painted.  One of them is a Christmas tree and one of them is a ceramic Christmas card that I’d wanted to give to Carrie for Christmas.  When it’s painted, I’ll be sending it to her.  I have to take those out and clean them, actually.

I weighed myself the other day, and I’ve lost a couple more pounds since December.  My goal is to be down to 130 or so by May or June, and a little more toned.  I have no objection to walking or riding a bike to work, so that’ll be helpful towards that particular goal.  I think I’ll wait for slightly better weather though.  The cold would leave me hacking up a lung while I’m working, that wouldn’t be a good thing.

It’s been awhile… we’ve been having some ‘net issues.  They should be completely resolved by the end of next week.  Till then internet access is rather spotty.

Once the access is back, I’m going to start doing a series of computer courses, most of them web-based.  Then I’ll be getting various certifications.  Joe is helping me get into that.  In the meantime, I’ve found part time employment at my favorite store… the grocery store, he he.  No, I’m serious.  The grocery store is my favorite store.  I love the grocery store.  It’s money.  I’ve also started going to a local ceramic shop with Rob every now and then while Gage is at school.  It’s relaxing to just sit and paint and chill, Rob and his mom are great company, we have lots of laughs.  So far I’ve painted a turtle, a fish and a light house.  Gage claimed the turtle as soon as he saw it, the fish was for him, and the lighthouse was for mom.  I’m working on a faerie sitting on the moon, and I’m contemplating a tree house at some point.  It’ll be more detail than I’ve ever done, but I think I can do it… As I said, very relaxing.  Everyone should try it sometime.

Gage is doing really good in school.  He’s doing his lessons and picking up a lot of stuff.  He came home and announced “I am a boy.”  He’s been using this site online called Starfall.com.  His teacher mentioned it to me and I checked it out.  It’s really cool.  He’s doing the pre-reading lessons now, and he handles the mouse really well.  He clicks where he’s supposed to click and clicks and drags what he’s supposed to.  It’s pretty cool to watch him.